Turning Points: Bedtime Stories
by WynterSky
Summary: Sasuke wants a story, and Itachi has to make one up on the fly. Fits between the first two chapters of Turning Points.


"Nii-san, tell me a story!"

While Itachi knew quite a lot of stories, most of them were not suitable for small children, so it took him a while to think of one that Sasuke would be able to sleep after. "Once upon a time, there was a princess, and she—"

"Nii-san, that's a story for _girls!_"

"Oh. Well, what kind of a story do you want me to tell?"

"One with ninjas! And monsters! And—and _squirrels!_"

"Squirrels?" Itachi asked in bewilderment. Sasuke nodded vigorously and hugged Risu-tan tighter. While the little toy was getting worn, it could still be recognized as a squirrel. Sighing, Itachi thought for a moment before starting over. "Right. Squirrels. So, once upon a time there was a princess, and she—"

"Itachi-nii-san, that's the same story!"

"It wouldn't be if you'd let me finish the first sentence."

"Sorry."

"That's all right. Now, as I was saying, once upon a time there was a princess, and she had a very brave ninja bodyguard."

"What was his name?"

"Minato," Itachi said, choosing the first name that came to mind. "Now, the princess was in love with Minato and—"

"What was her name?"

This was somewhat harder. "Hina," he said finally. "Now, Hina was in love with Minato, but—"

"When do we get to the monsters?"

"As soon as I finish this sentence."

"Oh."

"Yes. Now, Princess Hina and Minato were in love, but Hina was so beautiful that the Demon King became jealous and sent his evil minions to kidnap Hina and carry her off to his dark castle! Of course, Minato wasn't about to let a wicked demon have his princess, so he set off to rescue her."

"Was it very far?"

"Very, very far. To get there, first he had to cross a great mountain, but the Demon King sent some _tengu_ to attack Minato."

"Couldn't the Demon King go fight Minato himself?"

"No. He's the King, so he has to make other people do the work. Anyway, the _tengu_ tried to push Minato off of the mountain to the sharp rocks below, but he used a lightning jutsu to blast them out of the sky and went deeper into the Demon King's realm."

"Is this going to have squirrels in it?"

"Oh, right, squirrels...next, Minato had to travel through a deep, dark forest, filled with snakes and giant spiders. As he was walking through the forest, he saw a little squirrel caught in a spider's web. Now, although Minato was a dedicated shinobi, he was also very kind, so he rescued the little squirrel, and when the giant spider came to attack him, he cut it to pieces with his chakra blades."

"What's a chakra blade?"

"It's like a sword, but instead of being made of metal, the blade is formed out of chakra."

"Oh. Is that why it's called a chakra blade?"

"Yes. Can I keep going now?"

"Okay."

"When the squirrel saw that the giant spider was dead, she told Minato that she was the Queen of the Squirrels, and gave him a scroll. 'But', she said, 'you must not open the scroll until you are in your greatest danger.' After that, she disappeared. Minato went on, and soon he came to—"

"What was her name?"

"Whose?"

"The Squirrel Queen's."

"Um...Ayumi. As I was saying, Minato kept going deeper into the Demon King's realm, and soon he came to a wide, fast-moving river, full of sharp rocks. He knew he couldn't swim the river, and he thought of opening the scroll the Squirrel Queen—"

"Ayumi."

"—the scroll Queen Ayumi had given him, but he decided that this might not be the greatest danger he would come across, so he used an earth jutsu to knock down one of the trees in the forest so that it fell across the river and made a bridge. By this time, the Demon King had heard from his evil minions that Minato was getting near to his foul lair, so he summoned the fiercest of the wicked beasts at his command and sent it to attack Minato."

"What was it?"

"It was...a giant, fire-breathing dragon!"

"Did he open the scroll then?"

"No. See, Minato was skilled in sealing techniques, so he sealed the dragon in a blank scroll that he had brought with him and threw it in the river. That way, the dragon could never get out of the scroll. By this time, Minato was nearly out of chakra, but he could see the Demon King's castle so he kept going. Since he had destroyed the most powerful of the Demon King's servants, the Demon King was beginning to worry, and he waited at the gate of the castle to face Minato himself."

"I thought the King was supposed to make everybody else do the work."

"He did, but they all failed, so he had no other choice. Minato approached the castle. 'Foul demon!' he cried. 'I have sworn to protect Princess Hina and I will rescue her even if it costs my life, for that is my Ninja Way!'

"'It will cost your life,' snarled the Demon King, 'and still I will keep Princess Hina.' And then he attacked Minato. Minato fought back with all of his strength, but he was nearly out of chakra, like I said, and it looked like the Demon King was going to win. Just as the Demon King raised his sword to strike Minato down, he thought of the scroll that Squirrel Queen Ayumi had given him.

"Did he open it?"

"Yes, and immediately five hundred squirrels jumped out and pounced on the Demon King, who gave a horrible scream and fell back, dead."

"Really?"

"Yes. As it turned out, the Demon King was allergic to squirrel fur. Since their evil master had been slain, the rest of the monsters guarding Princess Hina fled, and Minato rescued her and brought her back to her kingdom. Princess Hina's parents, the King and Queen, were so pleased that Minato had rescued their daughter that they gave him permission to marry her, so they invited everyone in their kingdom to the wedding."

"And Queen Ayumi?"

"Yes. And then Princess Hina and Prince Minato lived happily ever after. The End."

"That was a good story."

"Thank you. Time to sleep now, Otouto."

"Can't you tell another one?"

"No," Itachi said firmly, turning out the light. "One story is _quite_ enough for tonight."

"'night, Nii-san."

"Goodnight, Sasuke."

[A/N: Utter, utter brotherfluff. This probably takes place less than a year after the events of Chapter 1, so Sasuke is not quite seven.]


End file.
